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CALGARY - Real domestic product growth in Alberta surpassed the national average in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year, according to Statistics Canada. The federal agency reported Wednesday that Alberta’s real GDP advanced 3.8 per cent last year after increasing 4.5 per cent in 2012.

CALGARY — Strong oil and gas prices, a shorter than normal spring breakup period and increased netbacks due to more rail transport of heavy oil are expected to result in happy investors as second-quarter reporting season launches this week. Bank analysts said they will be watching for increases in capital budgets and potential dividend hikes as Calgary energy companies enjoyed relative stability during the three months ended June 30.

CALGARY - This year’s Global Petroleum Show in Calgary will be bigger than ever as the country’s largest oil and gas exhibition takes on more space at Stampede Park to accommodate a growing and record number of exhibiting companies. The show is expecting to attract 60,000-65,000 people and could break the record of 63,000 set in 2012. There will also be more than 2,000 exhibiting companies - up about 10 per cent from the last show.

Calgary-based Questerre Energy Corporation expressed renewed optimism about its Quebec shale gas assets Thursday, in spite of an ongoing ban on hydraulic fracturing in that province. In an interview, CEO Michael Binnion said recent findings by a government-appointed committee of experts may be an indication of “light at the end of the tunnel” for his company, which has been prevented from developing its Utica shale properties ever since the Quebec government placed a moratorium on shale gas exploration in 2011.

Alberta and British Columbia want to work together to deal with oil spills, promote energy awareness and bring Ottawa to the table financially as the two provinces continue to smooth over their differences relating to proposed pipeline projects to the West Coast. Among 20 recommendations in a report from an interprovincial working group released Monday is a call for an analysis of what port, rail and road infrastructure improvements are needed in B.C. to ensure access to Asian markets for Canadian energy projects.

Seventeen startup technology companies, each hoping to revolutionize the energy industry, spent Tuesday selling themselves to a panel of judges. The entrepreneurs, finalists in Calgary’s inaugural Energy New Venture Competition, were chasing a grand prize worth $25,000 and the chance to make valuable connections with energy firms and potential investors.

A new Statistics Canada report provides fresh insight into the skyrocketing wages that accompanied Alberta’s most recent energy boom. The report examines the years between 2001 and 2008, a period during which oil prices received by Canadian producers more than doubled. During that time, young men between the ages of 17 to 24 living in oil-producing provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador) saw their average hourly wages increase by 21 per cent, more than five times the four per cent increase observed in other provinces.

Alberta will lead the country in the escalation of construction costs next year as the industry will feel a growing strain on the supply of skilled trades, according to BTY Group’s annual Market Intelligence Report. “Still strong oilsands investment, flood reconstruction, record high in-migration and a commercial building boom will help sustain Alberta’s robust construction activity and drive Canada’s strongest residential growth,” said the report.

CALGARY - A new Fraser Institute report suggests Alberta is the third most attractive jurisdiction in the world for oil and gas investment, but that could change if crucial pipeline proposals aren’t approved soon. Of the 864 industry executives who responded to the think tank’s 2013 Global Petroleum Survey, 62 per cent said their assessment of Western Canada as an investment venue would deteriorate if pipeline bottlenecks continue to constrain movement of oil to Eastern Canada, export markets overseas, and U.S. refiners. One respondent described pipeline constraints as “the single biggest risk to the industry today in Western Canada.”

Not long ago Steven Chu was one of the most powerful and influential people in the world in the energy industry. As President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Energy, Chu was at the heart of discussions forming energy policy for the United States.

The energy sector directly supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across Canada and generates an average of more than $26 billion per year in royalty and tax revenues, supporting social programs like health care and education, says the federal Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism. Jason Kenney, speaking in Calgary Friday at the World Petroleum Council Youth Forum in Calgary, said the federal government will continue to implement the policies that are making Canada and Canada’s resource sectors the most attractive destinations for investment in the world.

They may be students or entry-level professionals now, but the more than 1,000 young people taking in sessions at the Telus Convention Centre this week are the CEOs and policy-makers of the future. Representing more than 50 countries around the world, the delegates — most of whom are between the ages of 20 and 35 — are taking part in the World Petroleum Council Youth Forum, an event first held in Beijing in 2004 followed by Paris in 2008 and New Delhi in 2010. Calgary, which was awarded host city status by the World Petroleum Council, is the first North American city to host the event.

Crescent Point Energy Corp. set new second quarter records for production and cash flow, thanks in large part to a successful drilling program in Utah and a spring breakup that was less severe than expected. The Calgary-based oil producer achieved average daily production of 117,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (91 per cent liquids), a 21 per cent increase from the second quarter of 2012.

One of the world’s biggest energy events will become an annual affair in Calgary beginning next year. The Global Petroleum Show, which has been held in Calgary every two years since 1968, will run every year and replace the Gas & Oil Expo — a sign of the city’s growing stature on the international stage.

CALGARY — Solving the oil and gas industry’s market access woes would add 20,000 extra direct jobs over the next 10 years, according to a report by an industry group. The annual forecast by the Calgary-based Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada released Thursday estimates direct industry employment in 2012 was 195,200, up 10 per cent from 2009.

CALGARY — A member of one of the ruling royal families in the United Arab Emirates was in Calgary this week speaking to potential businesses setting up “sustainable” companies in the Middle East. In an exclusive interview with the Herald, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi, adviser for environmental strategies for the Ajman emirate and general secretary of the Al Ihsan Charity Association, said potential opportunities are more than just the energy sector including agriculture, water technology, infrastructure, energy, power and utilities, health, education, culture and arts.

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